Soldiers of Task Force 1-501st Parachute InfantryRegiment were victorious intheir first armed contact inAfghanistan. While on their way to conduct a village as-sessment paratroopers fromCompany C and Detach-ment D shot and killed four individuals along the high-way west of Khowst.The Soldiers were head-ing west on the highway and passing some buildingswhen 2nd Lt. DouglasPeterson, 3rd platoonleader, noticed Afghanis onthe side of the road signal-ing. When the five-vehicleconvoy came to a halt thelieutenant noticed a car across the wadi from his position. Outside the car were two men, one on theground apparently hurt.“My first thought was thatit was an ambush, the old person-injured trick,” saidPeterson. “When you stopto assist they open fire fromthe side of the road.”The rest of the convoythought the same thing andquickly scanned the area for any possible threat. Four armed males were spottedlaying on the north side of the road. The AfghanistanMilitia Forces’ soldier, whowas with Co. C for their mis-sion, openedfire.When the four men fired back,the Geronimosreturned fire withdevastating re-sults. All four of the oppositionsoon lay mo-tionless on theground.As the para-troopers movedin to secure thearea, one of their attackersthrew a handgrenade. As thetask force mem- bers quickly got out of the blast radius, a well- placed shot ensuredthat the man was nolonger a threat.According to Staff Sgt. Christopher Clark, 3rd squadleader, his guys re-acted to the situation just like they shouldhave.“They did everythingright,” Clark said. “If we could have re-hearsed a contact situ-ation like this, I would havewanted them to do it justlike they did on the side of that highway.”“The reason they re-sponded the way they didis because of the trainingthat Staff Sgt. Clark hasgiven them,” Peterson said.That training not onlyhelped to keep the Geroni-mos unhurt in the attack, butit also helped save lives of Afghanis. What had lookedlike a possible ambush, was

Pfc. Tommy Daw, Company C, pulls security for other task forcemembers as they search an Afghanistan village .Sgt. Joe Parmley, an engineer with HQCompany, inventories weapons of war found during the search of a house.

See CONTACT page 6

Geronimos out shoot assassins

Story and photos byStaff Sgt. Jeff Troth

The GeronimoJanuary 2, 2004

2

Salerno HappeningsThe World

FOB faces

What will you remember mostabout 2003?

The war in Iraq and my deployment to Afghanistan.

Sgt. Donald Taylor 45th Medical Company (Air Ambulance)

What I will remember the most about 2003, is that it is over and the support of my wife.

Spec. Michael JandzinskiHQ Company

Being pulled from 4-123 AVN to go to Afghanistan with TF 1-501..

Pvt. Joshna AtkissonForward Support Company

My son's first day of kindergarten. Being home between two deploymentsand being able to walk him to school.

Sgt. First Class Mark AllenCompany B

Mart Attire

Many residents of FOB Salerno have been seen at the North Gate mart out of uniform. The mart is not a securearea, and the proper uniform for all personnel, regardlessof service, going there is full battle rattle. This meanswearing your Kevlar, body armor, LBE (or equivalent) andweapon. Those in violation of this policy will be sent tosee the task force command sergeant major.

Mail Zip Code

Ensure that your family and friends are using the 09354zip code. Mail is still arriving in theater with 09355. Thismail is going to Kandahar, where there is limited planesand even more limited pallet space heading to Salerno.This means mail could take an additional month to arrive.

Robber

Uses Bikini Top To Hide Face

A man wearing a bikini top to disguise his face robbed the Northrim Bank in Anchorage on Monday.The man was described as white, about 5-feet, 10-inchesto 6 feet tall with a heavy build, and he appeared to be inhis late 20s to early 30s. He wore a baseball cap, a neongreen and blue bikini top across his face, a gray sweatshirt, jeans and workman gloves.

Man Rescued After Six Days

Iranian rescue workers found a 27-year-old man alive butin a daze, six days after an earthquake destroyed the an-cient city of Bam. Red Crescent workers initially thoughtYadollah Saadat was among the dead as they dug throughthe rubble of a house in Bam, but found him blinking andmumbling. He was trapped under a wardrobe, which prob-ably saved his life from falling debris. Death toll at 28,000.

K-1 Veteran Sapp is Popular in Japan

Former sumo wrestler Akebono didn’t last long in his K-1debut against Bob Sapp.Sapp, a former NFL lineman with the Minnesota Vikings,used a left-right combination to floor the massive Hawai-ian-born wrestler in the waning seconds of the first roundin the three-round bout before 43,500 at Nagoya Dome.“Tyson, you’re next,” Sapp said after the bout. “It’s beena year of challenges. Akebono accepted the challengeand now it’s your turn.”K-1 organizers are looking to tap into the lucrative Ameri-can market and have signed Mike Tyson, but no fightsinvolving the former heavyweight have been confirmed.

This is an unofficial Army newsletter, authorized under the provisionsof AR 360-1, and published by the 1/501st PIR Public Affairs Office. Edito-rial views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of theDepartment of the Army or the 1/501st PIR. All submissions to

, N.C. —A Soldier with the 27th Engineer Battalion wasawarded the Soldier’s Medal at FortBragg, N.C., Dec. 18 for his actionsin Afghanistan.Staff Sgt. Scott Smullen, while serv-ing as a squad leader in C Company,27th Engineer Battalion, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, riskedhis life to save an injured Soldier andwas presented the award by Lt. Gen.John R. Vines, XVIII Airborne Corpsand Fort Bragg commander.“Our platoon was conducting mine-clearance operations at Bagram Air Base,” Smullen said. “We cleared safelanes for further mine-clearing opera-tions to be conducted. We use tita-nium probes - we push them into theground and feel for land mines.”During the April 21 operation, oneof the Soldiers, Sgt. Camilo Molina,was injured in an explosion.“While we were clearing the lanes,(Molina) stepped on a mine and blewhis left foot off,” Smullen said.“We were all pretty close to the area,so me and my team leader ran over there and started clearing a safe areaup to him,” he said. “The first thing wedid was make sure he was conscious.He was a little disoriented, of course.My team leader Sgt. (George) Dayand I took our belts off and threw themto him - he was about 10 meters away- and instructed him to apply them astourniquets.”Day said that thanks to the trainingthe platoon had received, the rescuewent smoothly.“All the training we did for casualtyevacuation and how to probe aminefield really came into play. Itflowed like clockwork,” Day said.“Everybody just came together.”

Smiling staff sergeants

Photo by Sgt. First Class Ned Longoria

Company A squad leaders Staff Sgts. Leslie Posey (left to right), BenjaminLoggins and Dale McDonald got a break from duty at FOB Salerno with a four-day R&R trip to Qatar. Their smiles are not just because they are on vacation,but each one of them netted a $10,000 tax-free bonus for re-enlisting.

1st Lt. Joshua Finley, Smullen’s pla-toon leader at the time, said thatSmullen definitely earned his award.“(The Soldier’s Medal) is outstand-ing recognition for what (Smullen) did,”Finley said. “I saw it with my owneyes, and it really was an act of hero-ism. He really deserves this award.”Finley said that Smullen and theother Soldiers involved in the rescuereacted quickly and efficiently becausethey had rehearsed similar scenarios before.“We went through a lot of trainingonce we were in-theater, learning howto do a mine-field check. Then we’d practice it and practice it,” he said.“When it actually happens, you just goon autopilot; everything shuts off d you just do it.”Smullen said that he was surprisedto receive the Soldier’s Medal for hisactions that day.“(Getting the medal) is kind of sur-real. It’s unexpected, and sometimesI think it’s unwarranted - I think thewhole platoon deserves the recogni-tion,” Smullen said.“We all just worked and executedwhat we were trained to do. It was agroup effort - the whole platoon pulledtogether that day. The whole platoonsaved (Molina’s) life,” said Smullen.